Chapter 55

68.The Völva seems never to tire reminding her hearers that the dog Garm barks loud, &c.

69.The Völva.

70.Midgard—midr, middle;gardr, yard, enclosed space; also, courtyard and premises; a house in a village or town; a stronghold; a fence or wall; a collection of houses, a farm.

71.Asgard in olden times meant a place surrounded by walls, and also a collection of houses enclosed by a fence, hence the modern name in Scandinavia of gård for farm. The residence of the gods is also called by this name in the Edda.

72.Mannheimar(always in pluralmannheimar, the singular ismannheim) means homes of men.

73.The wordGullveigis only found as a compound word this once in the literature of the North.Gull= gold;veig= draught, also strength. It may be a metaphor for the thirst of gold being the root of evil, and the cause of the first fight and manslaying in the world, as the thirst is never dying.

74.Hár = Odin.

75.Here evidently the reference is to the war between the Vanir and the Asar. This shows that they had been defeated. Feast means sacrifice, which was always followed by the feast; this would imply that they wanted to make a sacrifice for peace or victory.

76.A stockade made like Danavirki or other strongholds in the north.

77.Wergild, indemnity.

78.Alfheimar. In one text, Jötunheimar. In later times Risar, Troll, and Dvergar became synonymous with giants, dwarfs, and wizards.

79.Kvisl—a forked river, one of the forks where they unite—it also means a branch of a tree.Vana-kvisl means the river of the Vanir; it is supposed now that it was the river Don which flows into the Sea of Azow, but it is doubtful.

79.Kvisl—a forked river, one of the forks where they unite—it also means a branch of a tree.

Vana-kvisl means the river of the Vanir; it is supposed now that it was the river Don which flows into the Sea of Azow, but it is doubtful.

80.This was probably the river Don, which is near the Ural Mountains.

81.Svíthjód the Great seems to be Russia—Norway, Sweden, perhaps Denmark and the shores of the Baltic.

82.Gefjon was one of the Asynjur.

83.Svithjód = Sweden, but it can hardly be taken in these early Sagas as exactly corresponding to modern Sweden.

84.People were buried with their wealth.

85.The one who owned the burning in the text. Heaven means space, not a blessed abode.

86.This word is not found elsewhere in Scandinavian literature.

87.See priest.

88.Idróttir, a name for all kinds of athletic and intellectual games.

89.We must here remark that nowhere is Thor called the God of Thunder.

90.See Havamal, the lord of the gallows; see Havamal where he is said to have hung on a tree.

91.Grimnismál, 19–20, also mentions these ravens.19.The battle-tamer (Odin) feedsGeri and Freki,The famous father of hosts (Herjafödr)And by wine aloneThe weapon-famousOdin always lives.20.Hugin and MuninFly every dayOver the wide earth;I am afraid HuginWill not come back,But still more of Munin.Poetical names were given to these ravens by Eyvind Skalda-spillir; they are called the Swans of Farmatýr (the god of cargoes),i.e., the Swans of Odin.

91.Grimnismál, 19–20, also mentions these ravens.

19.The battle-tamer (Odin) feedsGeri and Freki,The famous father of hosts (Herjafödr)And by wine aloneThe weapon-famousOdin always lives.20.Hugin and MuninFly every dayOver the wide earth;I am afraid HuginWill not come back,But still more of Munin.

19.

The battle-tamer (Odin) feedsGeri and Freki,The famous father of hosts (Herjafödr)And by wine aloneThe weapon-famousOdin always lives.

The battle-tamer (Odin) feeds

Geri and Freki,

The famous father of hosts (Herjafödr)

And by wine alone

The weapon-famous

Odin always lives.

20.

Hugin and MuninFly every dayOver the wide earth;I am afraid HuginWill not come back,But still more of Munin.

Hugin and Munin

Fly every day

Over the wide earth;

I am afraid Hugin

Will not come back,

But still more of Munin.

Poetical names were given to these ravens by Eyvind Skalda-spillir; they are called the Swans of Farmatýr (the god of cargoes),i.e., the Swans of Odin.

92.Because he was always fighting against the Jötnar.

93.The fires were always in the centre, lengthwise.

94.This man was Odin, who is always represented as having only one eye.

95.Cfr. also Volsunga Saga, c. 11.

96.The story of Odin’s ship reminds one of the tent mentioned in the ‘Arabian Nights,’ which could cover an army, and yet could be folded and carried in a small pocket.

97.Odin himself hung in Yggdrasil to learn wisdom, and this is a like custom (Havamal, 139); it seems that Odin learned wisdom from the one hanging in the gallows by sitting under it.

98.A high seat from which Odin could see over all worlds. (Gylfaginning, 17.) In the older Edda there is a long poem, Skirnismál or Skirnisför, on the story of Njörd falling in love with Gerd.

99.The peace of Frodi, so called from the chief who ruled Denmark at the time, and who must have become very celebrated.

100.Gymir, a jotun of whom nothing is known.

101.A lady is still calledfruall over Scandinavia.

102.In Icelandic Sagas housewife ishús-freyja; but in modern Icelandic,hús-frú.

103.i.e., mixed with water.

104.This would imply that Sweden was east of Vanaheim.

105.Cf. also Herraud and Bosi’s Saga, c. 1.

106.Cf. also Ynglinga Saga, andPrologue to Heimskringla.

107.TheYnglingatalis not given, as it is tedious, and would be uninteresting to the general reader.

108.Fródi had two sons, Ingjald and Hálfdán. From the first was descended the great Harald Hilditönn, who was defeated by his kinsman Sigurd Hring at the Bravalla-battle, see p.368. From the second was descended Harald Fairhair, the ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy, and so indirectly of Queen Victoria.

109.This was written after all the petty kingdoms of Denmark had been consolidated into one; the term Danish tongue at earlier periods did not exist, butNorrœna, or Northern tongue, was used instead.

110.Antiquities of the stone age have been found in bogs at Hœbelstrup; Sandbjerg, near Hörsholm; Lœsten, near Randers; Kjœr, Ringkjöbing Amt, Jutland; Samsö, &c.; and in mounds. Among them are numerous amber beads; flint tools from 4½ to 10 ins. long, many having teeth like a saw; axe-blades, chisels, spear-points, and ornaments.

111.The following contents of aDolmenat Luthra, Vestergotland, are typical:—5 spear-heads, 1 arrow-head, 19 rough flint axes, 4 bone pins, 18 bone beads, 4 amber beads, 11 pierced teeth of bears, dogs, and pigs, several bones of cows, and a great number of skeletons.

112.Of the 140 passage graves at present known in Sweden, more than 110 have been found in Skaraborglan, and most of these near Falköping.

113.Some of the forms of these antiquities are met with in parts of Germany, Hungary, England, and elsewhere in Europe, whilst others, by far the most numerous, are peculiarly Northern.

114.In one of the slabs (Fig.28) there seems to be a representation of a kind of sacrificing altar, with figures of persons coming towards it, as if they were coming there for some object. There seem to be men blowing horns. In Fig.29are a ship and a large cone, on each side of which are an axe and another object or sign the significance of which is unknown.Fig.30has only a ship.Fig.31has four-footed animals, the lower ones coming in opposite directions, and the others going the same way; but the two subjects are separated by peculiar marks.

Fig.30has only a ship.

Fig.31has four-footed animals, the lower ones coming in opposite directions, and the others going the same way; but the two subjects are separated by peculiar marks.

115.The Svastika, or Suvastika, is in its essential form a cross with bent armsSvastikas, but with many modifications. As a symbol, it is found widespread over a large part of the Old World. It is certainly of ancient origin, but authorities are disagreed as to its symbolical significance. Other symbols equally difficult to interpret, found in Norse remains, are the three dots, circle of dots, triangles, the triskele, &c.

116.In a bog by Taarup several pieces of bronze, such as arm rings, spear-points, chisels, &c., were found.Near Aarup, Jutland, two bronze earrings of a similar pattern, two bracelets made of convex bronze bands with engraved ornaments, a solid gold ring for the hair, three spiral-shaped loops of gold with bowl-shaped buttons at the ends. The engraved ornaments seem to point to the fact that the engraving needle was known in the bronze age.Somewhat similar objects have been found in other bogs.

116.In a bog by Taarup several pieces of bronze, such as arm rings, spear-points, chisels, &c., were found.

Near Aarup, Jutland, two bronze earrings of a similar pattern, two bracelets made of convex bronze bands with engraved ornaments, a solid gold ring for the hair, three spiral-shaped loops of gold with bowl-shaped buttons at the ends. The engraved ornaments seem to point to the fact that the engraving needle was known in the bronze age.

Somewhat similar objects have been found in other bogs.

117.See ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’ for other ornaments of bronze.

118.During the stone and bronze ages the population of Norway was not as great as that of Sweden, Denmark, and the islands of the Baltic. It is only during the iron age that that country becomes more thickly settled, and approximates somewhat in its population to the neighbouring countries; bronze finds have occurred in Norway as far north as 66° 10´ N. latitude.

119.Mixed finds precede the advent of each age. Stone implements or weapons are found together with those of bronze, and later bronze implements, which are the forerunners of the approaching iron age, are found with those of iron. Examples of such are—a grave at Stonholt, Viborg Amt, containing pearl of glass mosaic, with bronze poniard; grave at Alstrup, Aalborg Amt, containing iron weapons alongside an urn in which were a knife and ring of bronze; grave at Assens on Fyen, containing early iron age fibula, with bronze knife, saw, and needle; at Helsinge Zealand, grave with iron pin and bronze objects; at Brandtbjerg, near Sorö, Zealand, fragments of iron fibula and objects from bronze age, &c.

120.Broholm, situated on the S.E. coast of Fyen, forms the centre of the area of a magnificent archæological field, which extends about four kilometres all around it. In order to give an adequate idea of the richness of the place, I cannot do better than use the language of the late Herr F. Sehested, who in three summers discovered more than 10,000 different pieces belonging to the three ages above mentioned.

121.In an urn in a mound near Veile, Jutland, was found a bent bronze poniard; and in another mound at Mors, Jutland, an urn containing burnt bones and a bent bronze poniard.Sehested mentions (1) a bronze sword broken in four pieces, total length about 2 feet 8 inches with point missing; (2) fragments of a bronze sword with hollow handle broken at the top of the handle: (3) handle of sword with fragments of broken blade; (4) fragments of a spear-head broken near its socket. These objects had been intentionally rendered useless.

121.In an urn in a mound near Veile, Jutland, was found a bent bronze poniard; and in another mound at Mors, Jutland, an urn containing burnt bones and a bent bronze poniard.

Sehested mentions (1) a bronze sword broken in four pieces, total length about 2 feet 8 inches with point missing; (2) fragments of a bronze sword with hollow handle broken at the top of the handle: (3) handle of sword with fragments of broken blade; (4) fragments of a spear-head broken near its socket. These objects had been intentionally rendered useless.

122.I can give an example that has lately come to my knowledge to prove this assertion. Professor Lorange found runes on parts of burnt bones found in a grave which he with Professor Stephens places, judging from the antiquities which belonged to it, as belonging to the sixth century.“RUNE-INSCRIBED BURNT BONE.“In a letter dated Feb. 27th, 1886, I received from my friend the gifted Norwegian old-lorist A. Lorange, Keeper of the Bergen Forn-hall, a facsimile drawing of a piece of burnt bone, shortly before found in a grave-urn from the early iron age at Jæderen. Afterwards he kindly sent the original to the Danish Museum, that I might give a faultless engraving. While there, the frail treasure was scientifically treated by Hr. Steffensen, the Conservator, and it is now quite hard and in excellent order. But even when it was taken from the urn, the runes were sharp and quite readable. These Old-Northern letters were elegantly cut, most of them in decorative writing, that is, with two or three strokes instead of one, very much in the style of the (? 7th century) Old-Danish Bone Amulet found at Lindholm in Scane, Sweden (‘Old Northern Run. Mon.,’ vol. i., p. 219; iii., p. 33; 4to Handbook, p. 24); and of the ashen Lance-shaft from the Danish Kragehul Moss, not later than the year 400 (‘O. N. Run. Mon.,’ vol. iii, p. 133; 4to Handbook, p. 90).“This burnt bone is nearly 4 inches long; average width, ½ inch. It bears over forty rune-staves, cut in two lines, in theBoustrophedonorder.“From the rune-types and language I judged this piece to date from the 6th century. But as Hr. Lorange was familiar with the build and grave-gear of the tumuli of a similar class, I begged him to say whether—exclusively from his standpoint as archæologist—he agreed with me. He replied,that he did.“If I have read the runes aright, this object also has been a heathen amulet. It is the first burnt bone yet foundristed with runes. Other such we may have lost, for want of lynx-eyed examination.“George Stephens,Cheapinghaven, Denmark.November 6, 1886.”

“RUNE-INSCRIBED BURNT BONE.

“In a letter dated Feb. 27th, 1886, I received from my friend the gifted Norwegian old-lorist A. Lorange, Keeper of the Bergen Forn-hall, a facsimile drawing of a piece of burnt bone, shortly before found in a grave-urn from the early iron age at Jæderen. Afterwards he kindly sent the original to the Danish Museum, that I might give a faultless engraving. While there, the frail treasure was scientifically treated by Hr. Steffensen, the Conservator, and it is now quite hard and in excellent order. But even when it was taken from the urn, the runes were sharp and quite readable. These Old-Northern letters were elegantly cut, most of them in decorative writing, that is, with two or three strokes instead of one, very much in the style of the (? 7th century) Old-Danish Bone Amulet found at Lindholm in Scane, Sweden (‘Old Northern Run. Mon.,’ vol. i., p. 219; iii., p. 33; 4to Handbook, p. 24); and of the ashen Lance-shaft from the Danish Kragehul Moss, not later than the year 400 (‘O. N. Run. Mon.,’ vol. iii, p. 133; 4to Handbook, p. 90).

“This burnt bone is nearly 4 inches long; average width, ½ inch. It bears over forty rune-staves, cut in two lines, in theBoustrophedonorder.

“From the rune-types and language I judged this piece to date from the 6th century. But as Hr. Lorange was familiar with the build and grave-gear of the tumuli of a similar class, I begged him to say whether—exclusively from his standpoint as archæologist—he agreed with me. He replied,that he did.

“If I have read the runes aright, this object also has been a heathen amulet. It is the first burnt bone yet foundristed with runes. Other such we may have lost, for want of lynx-eyed examination.

“George Stephens,Cheapinghaven, Denmark.

“George Stephens,

Cheapinghaven, Denmark.

November 6, 1886.”

123.Similar runes also occurred on a scabbard found at Varpelev, and on a gold horn.

124.Danish coins with runic characters have been obtained from as early a period as that of Svein Úlfsson, or the 12th century. A runickefli, according to its contents, carved soon after 1200, is preserved in the Danish museum. It was found in Vinje church, Upper Telemarken, of Norway. The inscription thereon signifies:Sigurd Jarlson traced these Runes the Saturday after Botolf’s mass, when he journeyed hither and would not be reconciled to Sverre, the slayer of his father and brother. Sigurd was the son of the well-known Erling Skakke; he lost a battle against Sverre in 1200. As the latter died in 1202, it was between these two dates that the unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation occurred. (Stephens, p. 515.)

125.Dennis, p. 306. See Signor Gamurrini, who has described and illustrated them (see Ann. Inst. 1871, pp. 156–166). Franzius, in his ‘Elementa Epigraphices Græcæ,’ p. 22, 4to, Berolini, 1840, gives three Greek alphabets found inscribed in the same manner on various objects. No. 1, of twenty-four letters, is on the Agyllic vase first engraved by Lepsius (‘Annal. Hist. Archæol. Rom.,’ vol. viii., p. 186). The second is a fragment, only sixteen letters, found on the wall of an Etruscan sepulchre (‘Lanzi Saggio di ling. Etr.,’ ii., p. 436). The third is incomplete, having only the beginning, or the first fourteen letters.

126.Tacitus (Germ. c. 19) says: “Litterarum secreta viri pariter ac feminæ ignorant” (Men and women are equally ignorant of the secrets of letter writing). The earliest Latin inscriptions found in the North have characters unlike the runes.

127.In the Royal Library at Copenhagen there exist three most remarkable manuscripts in runic characters, showing the late period at which these still were in use. The first of these manuscripts, bearing the date of 1543, was written as a journal by Mogens Gyldenstjerne (a Danish noble) of Stjernholm, during a voyage into the North Sea undertaken by him in that year. The second bears the date of 1547, and is written as a note on a rough draft of a power of attorney by Bille of Bregentved, another Danish noble. The third is a notice about the last-mentioned estate, also containing a line in runic characters.The Runic codex containing the Scanian law also contains, in a different hand, a list of Danish kings, and among these one Ambruthe as having been king in Jutland. The time of this codex can be approximately fixed at about the year 1300.

The Runic codex containing the Scanian law also contains, in a different hand, a list of Danish kings, and among these one Ambruthe as having been king in Jutland. The time of this codex can be approximately fixed at about the year 1300.

128.The sacred or mystical number.

129.We see that Odin had to go through a terrible ordeal to learn the runes.

130.Bölthorn and Bestla are nowhere else mentioned in the earlier Edda.

131.Song-rouser, one of the vessels holding the sacred mead.

132.From this stanza we learn which tribes or people knew the art of writing runes.

133.Thund = Odin.

134.Three last lines of stanza are missing.

135.The edges of weapons. Some persons were supposed to have the power to deaden weapons’ edges.

136.Spells on the roots of a young tree or sticks.

137.Witches and ghosts were believed to ride on hedges and tops of houses at night.

138.Hanged corpse.

139.Man.

140.Here the Alfar are reckoned among the gods.

141.The mighty rearer.

142.Delling is the father of Day (Vafthrúdnismál, 25; Later Edda).

143.Odin.

144.Loddfafnir is some one whom Odin is teaching.

145.One must not tell his secret to any one.

146.We see by this and many other passages that the Jötnar were the enemies of the Asar.

147.Property here means gold.

148.Of witches = shape-stolen.

149.Undecipherable.

150.Take care of his clothes, &c.

151.Cf. also Gretti’s Saga. c. 62.

152.Kvædi, a poem or song. The poem consists of seventy-one stanzas with eight verses each, and the manuscripts are late and corrupted. It is evidently made up from the lives of several warriors, and often exaggerated, e.g., that he lived 300 years, and that his height was 16 or 24 feet.

153.Speldi = tablet, flat piece of wood.

154.A form of duelling.

155.Professor Stephens in ‘Handbook of Old Northern Runic Monuments,’ says: “The only Northern stone known to me which bears two words, cut far apart and running in different directions. I would therefore suggest that the one name is carved later than the other. Perhaps the husband or wife died first, and shortly after the partner was called away: thus they most likely lay in the same grave, and were remembered on the same block.”

156.Bugge, by comparing the runic inscription on the Piræus marble lion now at Venice, comes to the conclusion that, while the damaged state of the inscription makes it impossible to decipher it as a whole, enough can, however, be read to show its approximate date, and also the home of the tracer. The snake-slings and runes on this lion in all probability are traced by a man from Sweden, who has been among the Værings or Varangians.

157.Bog finds belonging to the bronze age, as well as to the iron age, have been discovered in many places in the North. Those of the bronze age consist chiefly of swords, lance-heads, axes, sickles, &c. Objects of the bronze age are also found deposited under stones or in fields.

158.Thorsbjerg is situated south of Flensborg, in Southern Jutland. Among the objects found were fragments of swords, all double-edged, the hilts of all, with one exception, of wood, inlaid with bronze and silver, with scabbards of wood with metal mountings (on the metal bottom-piece of one scabbard is a very clear runic inscription); a sword-belt of thick leather, 41½ inches long and 3½ inches wide; buckles for sword-belts, all of bronze, with broken pieces of iron buckles; bows and arrows in a more or less complete state, the most perfect bow being about 60 inches long, but both ends are somewhat damaged, and the original length seems to have been a couple of inches more; a great number of arrow-shafts, all of similar shape, between 26–35 inches long and ½ inch thick, but the arrow-points are all destroyed, the iron having rusted; remnants of shields, flat and circular, composed of several smoothly-planed and pretty thin wooden boards, which are not equally broad all over, but become narrower towards the border:—the largest cross-measure is 42½ inches, the smallest 21 inches, the thickness of the middle boards, which as a rule are somewhat heavier than the rest, is about ½ to ¼ inch (the shield-buckles are of bronze, but broken pieces of iron ones have been found also; their cross-measure is between 6–7 inches); axes, whose blades are much decomposed by rust, with thirty good handles of ash and beechwood, which measured between 23 and 33½ inches in length; a few well-preserved spear-points, and others more or less destroyed by rust; four spear-handles, 32, 98½, 107½, and 116 inches in length; several riding and driving accoutrements; more than sixty fibulæ of many different styles; many broken pieces of gold rings, only two of which have been fitted together so as to form one complete ring; two spiral rings of bronze; a round pendant of gold; a hollow ornament of silver-mixed gold; a mass of beads; a piece of unworked amber; pincers; dice of amber; a variety of utensils and tools for domestic use, such as bowls of wood and clay, spoons, jugs, knives, &c.; two pairs of coarse woollen trousers, &c.; and several objects, the use of which is unknown.

159.Thirty-sevenRoman coinswere found altogether. The earliest is of the year 60A.D.; the latest, 194A.D.—1 ofNero, 1 ofVitellius, 4 ofVespasianus, 1 ofDomitianus, 7 ofTrajanus, 6 ofHadrianus, 1 ofAelius, 6 ofAntoninus Pius, 1 ofFaustina the elder, 3 ofMarcus Aurelius, 2 ofFaustina the younger, 3 ofCommodus, and 1 ofSeptimius Severus, the last-named being struck in the year 194 of our era.

160.On a superb silver vase at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, found in Southern Russia, is a representation of a man wearing similar trousers.

161.The principal objects in this find included a very great number of arrow shafts (most of them thoroughly decayed), with arrow-points of bone or iron; a remnant of a quiver of wood about 25 inches long; a mass of wooden scabbards, mostly for edged swords; 390 pieces of metal and bone mountings for the scabbards, some of silver, and one of bronze covered with silver and thin gold plates, with runes lightly traced; shield-boards, handles and buckles (180 of the latter of iron); about 150 knives, all of iron and different shapes; several remnants of belts, as well as about 40 buttons of bronze, some covered with gold, and about 60 double buttons of bronze; about 250 different pieces of buckles and other mountings of iron and bronze; about 150 different pieces of riding harness; a few horses’ bones; bronze bowls, needles, keys; scissors; scythe-blades; 1 millstone; 1 small anvil; 6 hammers; 25 iron chisels; 3 iron files; 2 iron pincers; 57 bone combs, some withsvastica, and one with runes on; 4 square, 2 oblong dice; amber, glass, and mosaic beads; fibulæ of bronze, iron, silver, &c., &c.

162.This Greek writer, who lived at the beginning of the 3rd century, was called to the Roman Court by Faustina, wife of Septimius Severus, whose numerous coins are found, and if this art was known by the Romans he would certainly have described it.“Around this youth is a group of young men of fine appearance, and engaged in fine pursuits, as beseems men of noble birth. One of them seems to bear on his countenance traces of the palæstra, another gives evidence of gentleness, a third of geniality: here is one who you would say had just looked up from his book; and of the horses on which they ride no two are alike, one is white, another chestnut, another black, another bay, and they have silver bridles, and their trappings are adorned with golden and decorated bosses (φάλαρα). And it is said that the barbarians by the ocean pour these colours on red-hot copper, and that the designs become hard, like stone, and are durable.”—Philostratus, Imagines. Chapter on Boar-hunting.

“Around this youth is a group of young men of fine appearance, and engaged in fine pursuits, as beseems men of noble birth. One of them seems to bear on his countenance traces of the palæstra, another gives evidence of gentleness, a third of geniality: here is one who you would say had just looked up from his book; and of the horses on which they ride no two are alike, one is white, another chestnut, another black, another bay, and they have silver bridles, and their trappings are adorned with golden and decorated bosses (φάλαρα). And it is said that the barbarians by the ocean pour these colours on red-hot copper, and that the designs become hard, like stone, and are durable.”—Philostratus, Imagines. Chapter on Boar-hunting.

163.The articles found include glass, mosaic, and porcelain beads; fragments of four bone combs; four tweezers of bronze, of which two hang on bronze rings; remains of wooden shields with metal mountings; bronze mountings; 10 iron swords, damascened in several patterns, the length of the blades being from 31 to 35 inches, their width 1¾ to 2 inches; and fragments of several others; fragments of wooden scabbards, of which one has remains of leather on it; several metal mountings for scabbards; a buckle of bronze; about 80 points of iron spears, all of different shapes; 30 spear-handles, ornamented with engraved lines, some straight, and others with snake lines; remains of a wooden bow, length 47½ inches, and fragments of another; arrows; four whole iron knives, between 7 and 10 inches long, and several handles and fragments; four oval-shaped whetstones and fragments of a square one; five small balance-weights; fragments of a heavy wooden post and of a small twig; some mountings of silver which probably belonged to riding harness; bones of three animals; &c., &c.

164.Among the objects found in the bog were 106 iron swords, all double-edged, with handles of wood sometimes covered with silver, or of bone or massive bronze; 93 damascened in different patterns, two wrought from two different pieces, and only eleven simply wrought. On several there are Latin inscriptions, and on one blade runes inlaid in gold. The condition in which the swords were when buried is peculiar. Generally they were without hilts and bent, on many were found deep cuts on both edges, one having 23 cuts on one, and 11 cuts on the other edge. Wooden scabbards, with mountings of bronze; mountings to sword-belts; buckles of iron and bronze; rings with loose end-mountings; 70 iron shield buckles; iron axes; iron bridles, three of which were still in the mouths of (skeleton) horses; 552 iron spear-points, several ornamented with gold; several hundred spear-handles; numerous household utensils of wood; several hundred arrow-shafts with traces of marks of ownership on them, and some with runes, &c.

165.Thirty-four Roman coins, struck between the years 69 and 217A.D., are so-called denarii of silver, and date from the time ofVitellius(1),Hadrian(1),Antoninus Pius(10), two of which have the mark of DIVVS;Faustina the elder(4),Marcus Aurelius(7) (partly as Cæsar, between the years 140–143, and partly as Imperator),Faustina the younger(1),Lucius Verus(2),Lucilla(2),Commodus(5), andMacrinus(1), the latter a very rare coin, struck in 217A.D.

166.See p.385.

167.In the coffin itself, on the right side of the skeleton, were found, among other objects, forty-six checker pieces of glass, sixteen dark red, the others of whitish colour, ¾ to 1½ inch; three finger-rings of gold, and a spiral bracelet, similar to the one from Oland (vol. ii. p. 311); two fibulæ of silver, one gilt. On the left, sixty checker pieces, thirty-one of which were black, the others whitish; with these was a small amethyst stone with rough, unworked surface. At the feet, bronze vessels, one placed on the other, two small bosses of silver of unknown use.

168.See also pages280,282,284.

Back to Index Next